[TOLONEWS] Two coppers were killed and one was injured in a roadside kaboom blast in the southern Uruzgan province Monday morning, local officials said.

The blast took place at about 10:00 am local time in the bustling provincial capital Tarinkot when a police vehicle was struck by a roadside kaboom, provincial police chief front man Farid Ayel told TOLOnews.

[TOLONEWS] At least four non-combatants were killed and two others were maimed in a kaboom in the southern Helmand...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province Monday morning, locals officials said.

The incident happened at about 09:00 am local time in Marja district when the vehicle they were traveling in hit a roadside kaboom, provincial police chief Abdul Nabi Elham said.

The injured were taken to a nearby hospital; all the victims are civilians, he said.

No group, including the Taliban, has grabbed credit for the blast. Insurgents use improvised bombs to target Afghan and NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... troops, but most of the victims are civilians who are unwittingly caught in the blast.

The UN recently released a report stating that the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan has dropped for the first time in six years, but the number of injured has increased.

[An Nahar] More than 500 members of an Arab tribe in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region have been killed and almost 900 maimed in seven weeks of festivities, an MP representing the district said on Monday.

The toll is far higher than figures previously given for the fighting between the Rezeigat tribe and rival Arabs from the Beni Hussein group in the Jebel Amir gold mining area of North Darfur.

Aid workers say the fighting has caused the region's largest uprooting of the population in years.

"The number of deaders from January 6 until February 23 is 510, including women and kiddies. Another 865 were maimed," Adam Sheikha told news hounds. He said all the casualties belonged to his Beni Hussein tribe.

MP Sheikha represents El Sireaf district where the violence has been concentrated.

It is unclear how many Rezeigat were killed.

Sheikha said that 68 villages had been burned to the ground, with 120 partly burned, and that 15 women were raped.

In the latest attack, on Saturday, residents in El Sireaf town said a Rezeigat militia fired heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, burned houses and killed more than 50 people.

Peacekeepers on Sunday airlifted 37 maimed civilians, including a woman and two children, for treatment in the state capital El Fasher, the African Union...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...-U.N. Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said in a statement late Monday.

Up to 200 died during festivities in January, Amnesia Amnesty International said earlier, adding that Sudanese security officers were reportedly involved.

Sheikha, of the ruling National Congress Party, said the militia who carried out the weekend assault "came on government vehicles carrying state-issued weapons and they got their salaries from the state."

Attempts to reach a Rezeigat source were unsuccessful.

North Darfur governor Osman Kbir said on Monday that officials were "containing the situation and normalizing life at El Sireaf locality after intervention of the armed forces," the official SUNA news agency reported.

But Sheikha said militia are surrounding the displaced who are confined within an area of seven square kilometers (2.7 square miles).

On Tuesday Darfur marks 10 years since rebels from non-Arab tribes began an uprising against the Arab-dominated government.

However,the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... "the major issue" in the region now is not rebel attacks but "ethnic violence" such as that in Jebel Amir, Darfur's top official Eltigani Seisi has told Agence La Belle France Presse.

He admitted that government-linked militia in North Darfur have "committed atrocities against innocent civilians" but he said the gangs are to be disbanded.

The U.N. said 1.4 million people were already living in camps for Darfur's displaced before the Jebel Amir violence.

It cited figures from the government's Humanitarian Aid Commission which said about 100,000 people had been displaced or severely affected by the inter-Arab fighting since January.

Sheikha gave a higher number, saying 20,000 families had been uprooted, which would mean around 200,000 individuals.

"Most of them are living under trees, taking residence in schools and government offices. They are in a bad humanitarian situation, bad health situation. The students cannot go to school," he said.

Ali al-Za'tari, the U.N.'s resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, expressed "profound concern about the safety and well-being of civilians in El Sireaf town", where most of the displaced sought shelter since January.

"Humanitarian organizations have been coordinating closely with local government authorities and with the UNAMID peacekeeping mission in Darfur to deliver urgently needed surgical supplies and to evacuate seriously maimed people," Za'tari said Monday.

Mohamed Yonis, UNAMID's officer in charge, said that he hoped "tensions in the area will ease and the reconciliation process will resume" in coming weeks.

[MAGHAREBIA] The Libyan Coast Guard seized more than 30,500 kilos of drugs

...not what the Mexican reporters refer to as "personal amounts"...

from a boat near Tripoli...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn..., navy front man Colonel Ayoub Gacem said on Saturday (February 23rd).

Officers enjuggedKeep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! two Moroccans, a Libyan, an Egyptian and a Tunisian on Friday after uncovering the drug haul aboard Libya-flagged vessel "Bab al-Bahr".

The boat was stopped in Libyan territorial waters, some 40 kilometres northeast of the al-Bouri oilfield. It was later moved to the Tripoli naval base.

"The anti-narcotics department recorded the shipment, its contents and weight," Colonel Gacem said. He did not specify the type of drugs seized from the boat.

#6
The stoners will never know the difference. We get reports of busts like this between Mexico and the US all the time. It never puts a dent in the supply on the street. They have to make token busts every now and then to make it look like they're doing their jobs, you know. But they aren't.

[Egypt Independent] Hundreds demonstrated in front of the Unknown Soldier Memorial in Nasr City in support of the Armed Forces on Monday, rejecting what they called attempts to "Brotherhoodize" the army.

They rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the Moslem Brüderbund and Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, blocking all traffic on Nasr Road.

Al Jizz Mubasher Misr reported that the protesters were calling for the army to take over power again, frustrated with what they view as President Mohamed Morsy's poor performance over the past seven months.

The military has been a central force in politics since army officers staged an overthrow of the monarchy in 1952.

In an interview with state TV on Sunday, Morsy sought to dispel speculation that there were growing tensions between the army and his administration.

"There could never be disagreement between the Armed Forces and the presidency, because the president and the Armed Forces are not two factions, they are one, and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is extremely professional," Morsy said.

[An Nahar] French warplanes attacked an Islamist base in north Mali at the weekend, wounding four members of the Arab Movement of the Azawad (MAA), after the forces of Evil clashed with Tuareg rebels, MAA and security sources said Monday.

"Four fighters of the MAA were maimed during bombing by the French air force (on Sunday) against our base at Infara," 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Algeria, Boubacar Ould Taleb, a leader of the MAA, told Agence La Belle France Presse in the capital Bamako by telephone.

"They were French planes (...) that bombed our base. Five vehicles belonging to our movement were also destroyed," Ould Taleb added, denouncing the "open support" La Belle France was giving to the Tuareg rebel National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA).

A regional security source confirmed the attack. "French military planes on Sunday bombed MAA positions hard up against the Algerian border," he said.

Infara lies 30 kilometers from In-Khalil, another Malian village where the MAA clashed on Saturday with the MNLA, a veteran separatist movement that has aligned itself with Mali's army and the French in their bid to rid northern Mali of armed Islamic fundamentalists. Azawad is the name Tuaregs give to their would-be state in the north.

Mohamed Ibrahim Ag Assaleh, an MNLA official based in Burkina Faso...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and may be in the process of being chased out now...'s capital Ouagadougou, on Saturday said that Tuareg forces were attacked by "terrorists" led by Omar Ould Hamaha of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO). The MUJAO was one of the Islamist movements that occupied northern Mali after a March 2012 coup in Bamako led to military chaos.

Ag Asseleh also accused "the MAA and Ansar Al-Sharia", a splinter "dissident group from the MUJAO", of attacking MNLA forces.

He said the MNLA had taken "nine prisoners: six who claim to belong to the MUJAO and three from Ansar Al-Charia".

The MAA, a separatist movement formed in March 2012, confirmed that its forces launched an attack at 4:00 am (04:00 GMT) on Saturday in what it said were reprisals for violence committed by Arab forces in the region.

[An Nahar] controversial Egyptian Islamist was freed on bail on Monday after he was held in jug for four days on charges of insulting Christianity, a judicial official said.

Ahmed Abdullah, an beturbanned goon preacher also known as Abu Islam, was tossed in the calabooseI ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! after Coptic Christian activist Nagib Gibrail accused him of insulting Christianity on a television show.

He was held for four days on orders of the state prosecutor and released on bail of 20,000 Egyptian pounds (around $3,000), the judicial official said.

The grey-bearded preacher has gained a reputation for beturbanned goon and outlandish statements against Christians and liberal opponents.

Abdullah is already on trial on separate charges of tearing apart a bible during protests outside the U.S. embassy in September 2012 when several Mohammedan countries were rocked by often violent demonstrations against an anti-Islam film produced in the United States.

One of the bail conditions imposed on Monday was that Abdullah attends hearings of that trial.

A court last month upheld death sentences for seven Egyptian Coptic Christians who live in the United States and were accused of producing "Innocence of Mohammedans," the anti-Islam movie that insulted the Prophet Mohammed.

They said the suspect was arrested along with an alleged accomplice, both members of the radical Mohammedan Salafist movement. The main suspect, a 31-year-old furniture maker, was arrested in the Carthage suburb of Tunis.

The second man was allegedly the getaway cycle of violence rider for the lone, hooded gunman who rubbed out Belaid, 48, at close range in front of his Tunis home on February 6, two coppers told Agence La Belle France Presse.

They said the arrests were carried out on the strength of the testimony of a woman who had witnessed the killing and has since been placed under police protection.

Several online media also reported the two arrests, but the interior ministry front man was unreachable for comment.

Interior Minister Ali Larayedh, who has been tapped to form a new government in the face of the deepening crisis sparked by Belaid's killing, said last week that arrests had been made.

"The investigation has not led yet to identify the killer, those behind the murder and its motives," said Larayedh, refusing to elaborate or disclose the number of arrests.

Belaid's family has blamed the ruling Ennahda party for being behind the killing, an accusation the Islamists have vehemently denied.

The liquidation triggered days of unrest as people took to Habib Bourguiba Avenue, epicenter of the 2011 uprising that toppled ex-dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, exacerbating a long-running political crisis in Tunisia.

On the day of the murder, prime minister Hamadi Jebali proposed the formation of a government of technocrats as a way out of the crisis. But the initiative was rejected by his own Ennahda party, leading to his resignation.

[An Nahar] A UAE appeals court on Monday upheld life imprisonments handed in May last year to 10 pirates convicted of hijacking a ship east of Oman in the Arabian Sea in 2011, state news agency WAM reported.

The sentences, which equates to 25 years in jail, will be followed by deportation, WAM said.

The report did not give the nationalities of the 10 men, but local media had reported that they were Somalis.

MV Arrilah-I was hijacked in April 2011 while on way from Australia to Dubai.

United Arab Emirates special forces, backed by air force units and in coordination with the Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet, freed the Abu Dhabi-owned ship a day after it was seized.

The bulk carrier is owned by Abu Dhabi National Tanker Co and National Gas Shipping Co, both subsidiaries of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.

[Bangla Daily Star] Over 4,000 activists of eight Islamist parties were sued in connection with Sunday's violence that killed four people and injured 50 in Manikganj.

The violence erupted when police, having been attacked by pickets, opened fire in Singair upazila of the district during countrywide hartal... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... called by the Islamist parties.

A total of six cases were filed with Singair Police Station on Sunday night on charges of killing, arson, vandalism and attacking police, police sources said.

Raiding different parts of the district on that night, police incarceratedDrop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! 13 people for their alleged involvement in the violence, said Md Mizanur Rahman, additional superintendent of police of Manikganj.

A one-member probe body, headed by the additional SP, has been formed to investigate two of the six cases.

Foyjur Rahman, son of Abdul Majed Khan, filed a case against 20 named and 100 unnamed people on charge of attacking his father during the clash, the additional SP said.

Majed is the general secretary of Singair upazila unit Awami League.

Businessmen Azhar and Abdul Quader filed two separate cases against 355 people in connection with vandalising their business establishments at Kashimpur Bazar.

Reajul Islam, of Joymantap village in the upazila, filed a case against 33 named and 25 unnamed persons, the additional SP said.

Reajul was injured during a clash between supporters of Islamist parties and police on Sunday, he added.

Meanwhile,...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... eight Islamist parties observed a daylong hartal in the district yesterday, protesting the killing of their "activists" during Sunday's violence.

For a map, click here. For a map of Durango state, click here. For a map of Coahuila state, click here.

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Five individuals were found shot to death at a residence in Ciudad Lerdo in Durango Sunday morning, according to Mexican news accounts.

According to a news account posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango news daily, the incident took place at a residence in Laureles colony Sunday morning, where the family, two adult males, a minor girl and their mother, were found by local police shot to death.

Mexican press accounts say the shooting was unrelated to gang or drug crime.

Ciudad Lerdo is one of the main Durango municipalities in La Laguna region and has dodged much of the drug and gang related violence, unlike Gomez Palacio or Torreon in Coahuila state, just across the state border.

Meanwhile in Gomez Palacio, four suspects were detained by a Policia Federal road patrol Monday. According to a news report posted on the website of El Sol de Mexico news daily, the patrol had observed the four suspects travelling aboard a vehicle at an excessive rate of speed. Briefly the driver of the vehicle attempted to flee, but quickly stopped.

Police found two handguns, three weapons magazines, 14 rounds of ammunition, a fragmentation grenade, 400 packages of marijuana and 200 packages of powder cocaine.

The news account hinted that the four could possibly be linked to the murder of the five traffic police agents last Thursday in La Laguna including four in Gomez Palacio, as well as the four arson fires set in businesses owned by the former major of Gomez Palacio, Rocio Rebollo.

About the resignation last week of Rocio Rebollo, Durango radio journalist Ruben Cardenas said on Twitter: "Gomez Palacio has no police, and now no mayor."

Drug and gang crime in Gomez Palacio has been so bad that parents are removing children from school based on rumors that local schools could be attacked using small arms or arson fires.

According to a separate news account posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango, the Primaria José Rebollo Acosta primary school in Felipe Angeles colony was emptied of students at around 1100 hrs when rumors came to light of narcopintas, or messages left by local drug gangs, threatening attacks on local schools.

The report also hinted other schools in Gomez Palacio had reported absentees, even though teachers remained at the schools.

A late report posted Monday evening on El Siglo de Durango reported that a man was found shot to death in a gated community in Gomez Palacio. Jose Alfredo Carrillo, 44 was found shot once in the temple in his residence in Las Noas colony.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com

#1
Just as an aside, at dinner at the Indian restaurant tonight, the Mexican server (I know, but he was) was very excited to read the article and tell me all about goings on in Michoacan, where his parents still live. The cut off heads with machetes, donchaknow (and of course I did -- thanks, badanov!). He thinks President Pena Nieto is a crook, unlike Calderon, who actually fought the drug gangs. All in all an interesting evening.

You may garner a new audience from it, if his son can show him how to find the site again. ;-)

[Dawn] A blast at a shrine in interior Sindh has left three people dead and several others injured, DawnNews reported.

The kaboom took place at the Dargah Hajan Shah Mauri shrine in Shikarpur when a large number of devotees were present.

Reports suggest that a man riding a cycle of violence threw a grenade and fled from the scene, while eyewitnesses said that an unknown individual left a bag at the site, after which there was an kaboom.

The dead and injured have been shifted to a local hospital. Many of the injuries are reported to be serious.

[Dawn] Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat...which is the false nose and plastic mustache of the murderous banned extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, whatcha might call the political wing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi... (ASWJ) central Information secretary Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqui, who had survived a life attempt in December in Bloody Karachi...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous..., and Bahawalpur chapter chief Rao Javed Iqbal have alleged that more than 400 activists of defunct Lashkar-e-Jhangvi... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... were locked awayYez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! in police crackdown on Saturday night throughout Punjab.

Addressing a presser here on Sunday, Aurangzeb Farooqui criticised the statement of Interior Minister Rehman MalikPak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. about involvement of LJ men in terrorist activities. He rejected Malik's claim that LJ had two groups being led by Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi and Malik Muhammad Ishaq. He said ASWJ was not involved in Quetta carnages. He said by courting arrest, Malik Ishaq had proved his innocence. He said sectarian incidents did not take place in Balochistan...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it.... "In fact attacks in Quetta are the result of feuds."

He alleged that some of the foreign powers were involved in the firing incidents in Balochistan.

He said a crackdown on ASWJ workers had been carried out following sit-ins by families in Quetta and all over the country.

Farooqui protested against the killing of his men in Karachi and appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistain Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take its notice. He denied any contact or alliance with the Punjab government.

He dispelled allegations of acquiring funds and arms from foreign countries and said his party was not an agent of any foreign power and was loyal to Pakistain.

Rao Javed Iqbal said police tossed in the slammerDrop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! five to eight workers from each district of Punjab during the crackdown while six activists were nabbed in Bahawalpur district.

[Dawn] Six people, including a seminary student and a factory owner who fell prey to sectarian killings, were bumped off in the city on Monday, police said.

They said that a student of the Jamia Binoria was bumped off and another maimed in an attack apparently on sectarian grounds on Shahrah-e-Quaideen on Monday.

They said that gunnies riding a cycle of violence sprayed a car (ABG-834) with bullets near the Noorani Kabab House within the remit of the Ferozabad cop shoppe and rode away.

They said that the bullets hit Qari Obaidul Haq, 28, and Nazar Bakht, 30, and they were rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. However,some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... Qari Obaid died during treatment.

The police said that both men were students of Jamia Binoria in New Town.

A senior police officer of the area suspected that the incident was related to the ongoing sectarian strife in the city.

Factory owner killed in Manghopir

The owner of a marble factory was rubbed out in the Manghopir area on Monday, police said.

They said that armed motorcyclists targeted Akhlaq Hussain, 40, the owner of Ghazi marble factory, in Kunwari Colony within the jurisdiction of the Pirabad cop shoppe.

The victim died before he could be taken to hospital, the police said, adding that he was a resident of Awan Colony in Pirabad and originally hailed from Chakwal.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities. Later, the body was taken to the Incholi Imambargah from where it was supposed to be taken to his hometown for burial.

SSP-West Asif Ajaz Sheikh said the killing appeared to have a sectarian motive.

The victim had been shot a single bullet in the head, the SSP said.

Teenager rubbed out

A teenager was rubbed out near the PIDC area on Monday evening, police said.

They said that gunnies riding a motorbike targeted Asad Anwar, 18, who was also on a bike, within the remit of the Civil Lines cop shoppe and fled.

The body was shifted to the JPMC for a post-mortem examination. A pistol was also recovered from his possession. He was a resident of Sultanabad, the police said.

The killing took place a few yards from the Chief Minister's House located in the high-security zone.

The police were not sure about the motive for the killing.

'Police informer' killed in Orangi

A middle-aged man, said to be a police informer, was killed in Orangi Town on Monday evening.

Police said that gunnies riding a cycle of violence targeted Nazim Mursaleen, 55, outside his house in Orangi Town's Sector 11 ½ and rode away. The victim was struck down in his prime after suffering a fatal gunshot wound.

A senior police officer said that the victim had remained associated with many political and religious parties, including the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts..., in the past, but more recently he had become a police informer.

He said that one of the brothers of the victim had also been bumped off in a similar style.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hopsital for medico-legal formalities.

Man found rubbed out

The trussed-up body of a young man was found in Orangi Town on Monday.

Police said that the body was found in the Mohammedan Nagar area in Orangi Town's Sector 11 ½. The victim had been shot in the head.

They said that the victim was identified as Sarfraz, a resident of Gulshan-e-Ghazi, and he was a garments factory worker. He had gone out for work on Sunday but did not return. It appeared that he had been kidnapped and later killed by unknown persons, the police added.

Bullet-riddled body found

The body of an unidentified young man was found in the old city area on Monday morning.

Police said that the blood-soaked body was found in the Paper Market within the remit of the Kharadar cop shoppe. The victim was wearing trousers and a shirt and appeared to be in his mid-20s.

He sustained 12 bullet wounds, the police said, adding that he was killed somewhere else and the killers dumped the body near the Paper Market.

The body was taken to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... for medico-legal formalities. Later, it was taken to the Edhi morgue for identification.

'Bandit' killed in Landhi

An alleged bandit was killed by area people in Landhi on Monday.

Police said that a lone bandit entered a shop in Landhi No 6 and held the staff at gunpoint. However,some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... area people gathered outside the shop and sensing danger the bandit opened fire.

The area people also returned fire and during the cross firing a rickshaw driver, later identified as Shakeel Ahmed, suffered a bullet wound. The police said that the suspected bandit was also maimed and was struck down in his prime.

The police claimed to have recovered a TT pistol from the possession of the alleged bandit.

The body was shifted to the JPMC for medico-legal formalities. Later, the body was taken to the Edhi morgue for want of identification.

Suspect killed in 'encounter'

Another alleged bandit was killed and his accomplice was maimed in a police encounter in the Grumandir area within the remit of the Jamshed Quarters cop shoppe on Monday.

Police said that gunnies were busy robbing a store when a police patrol arrived at the scene. The suspects opened fire on the police, who also returned fire.

They said that one suspect was struck down in his prime while the second suspect, identified as Shaharyar, was tossed in the slammerI ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! in maimed condition. He was taken to the Civil Hospital for treatment. The dear departed could not be identified till late in the night.

[Dawn] An Indian man has been juggedDon't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! on charges of spying for Islamabad on military war-games staged on India's border with Pakistain, Indian police said on Monday.

The 35-year-old man is accused of passing on details of the exercises held by the Indian Air Force on Friday in the western desert state of Rajasthan, senior state police officer DS Dinkar told AFP.

Dinkar identified the man as an Indian national called Sumaar Khan and said he was allegedly spying for Pakistain's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), "passing information related to Indian defence installations and military activities".

Police alleged the man used mobile phones and Internet to transmit information but did not say when he was arrested.

Police say Grad rocket explodes in Ashkelon, causing damage in first such attack by terrorists in Gaza Strip since the ceasefire following Operation Pillar of Defense; no injuries reported, rocket caused damage to road.And so it restarts

[An Nahar] Hasan Awada, the municipal chief of the southern town of Yaroun, was maimed on Monday when a blast destroyed his car as he was driving it in the Tyre area of al-Housh, state-run National News Agency reported.

Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and launched an investigation into the incident, NNA said.

The agency added that Awada was rushed to Lebanese-Italian Hopsital for treatment. But Voice of Leb radio (93.3) later reported that the municipal chief's wounds required his transfer to the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Beirut.

Citing reports, the radio station said the kaboom was caused by a bomb.

A security source later told Agence La Belle France Presse that the car was booby-trapped, noting that Awada is close to Hizbullah.

[Dawn] At least 30 Syrian troops and 23 rebels were killed over the past 24 hours in fierce festivities for control of a police academy in the northern Aleppo province, a watchdog said on Monday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that rebels shot down a regime helicopter near a military base elsewhere in the north of the province as snuffies pressed on with attacks on the police academy in the west.

At least 53 combatants, 23 rebels including a battalion commander and 30 Syrian troops, were killed over the past 24 hours in the fighting outside the town of Khan Assal, the Britannia-based Observatory said.

It said rebels took control of a building where troops were entrenched as warplanes tried to repel them and "took hostage dozens of pro-regime orcs."

But the pro-regime Al-Watan newspaper said Monday that "members of the police academy rebuffed the intensive attacks of gunnies for the second consecutive day, inflicting heavy losses on them with artillery."

The police academy is one of the last regime bastions in the west of Aleppo province.

The chopper was shot down near Minnigh military airport, which rebels have been trying to stop for months, "and burst into flames after it was hit," the Observatory said.

A local resident confirmed to AFP that "the helicopter was shot down while trying to land" at the strategic airbase, located in the north of the province.

Also on Monday regime warplanes bombarded the southwestern and eastern outskirts of Damascus...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... in a protracted bid to dislodge rebels from their rear bases, killing 10 civilians including two children, the Observatory said.

Inside the capital, troops shelled rebel strongholds in the east and south, killing two civilians including a young girl, and another girl was killed in mortar fire in festivities that broke out near the Yarmuk Paleostinian refugee camp.

In the northwestern province of Idlib at least eight non-combatants were killed in air raids on villages in Jabal Zawiya and shelling on the rebel-held village of Khirbet al-Joz on the Turkish border.

Fighter jets also raided towns in the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-AssadHorror of Homs... that broke out in March 2011 and has left 70,000 dead, according to the United Nations...an international organization whose stated aim of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country...In the mainly Kurdish province of Hasake, the Al-Nusra Front and other rebels seized Tal Hamis after several days of heavy fighting and regime shelling that forced most of the town's residents to flee, the Observatory said.

The watchdog, which relies on a vast network of activists on the ground and medics, said at least 92 people were killed in violence across Syria on Monday.

#1
At least 53 combatants, 23 rebels including a battalion commander and 30 Syrian troops, were killed over the past 24 hours in the fighting outside the town of Khan Assal, the Britannia-based Observatory said.

It said rebels took control of a building where troops were entrenched as warplanes tried to repel them and "took hostage dozens of pro-regime orcs."

These numbers don't make a lot of sense. Attacking forces going up against entrenched opposition will usually take serious casualties unless they have air or artillery support, and the defenders don't.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.